Our Great Need
Lesson 5

Through the senses Satan worked to successfully influence man’s mind. When, in defiance of God’s direct command, man chose to follow Satan’s suggestion, the way was open for Satan to gain control of his power of action. Made in the image of God, the human family lost their innocence, became transgressors, and as disloyal subjects began their downward career.

Note: A literal translation is, “dying thou shalt die,” meaning that upon the day of transgression sentence would be pronounced. In that day, man would pass from the status of conditional immortality to that of unconditional mortality. Just as before he chose to rebel against his Creator, thus separating himself from the source of life, he could be certain of immortality, so separated from Him, death became a certain reality.

Note: While in the Garden of Eden, Adam stood before God as the head of the race. He represented every person who would ever be born. As partakers of his body and mind, all his descendants were, through the great law of heredity, affected by what affected him. As all of Adam’s children were born after his sin, they could only inherit that which their father had to give them, so were born with a sinful, fallen nature. Notice that it does not say that all men die because of the guilt they received from Adam, but because they sin. It was not guilt from Adam that his descendants received, but a weakened, sin-loving nature. Yielding to Satan’s suggestions, our first parents opened the floodgates of evil upon the world. The evil that began in Paradise has extended down through the ages.

Note: It is impossible for us to escape from the pit of sin into which we have fallen. The will, combined with human effort, may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but it cannot change the heart; it cannot purify the springs of life. There is no true excellence of character apart from God. The apostle Paul saw all this when he exclaimed, “I agree with the law that it is good.” “The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Romans 7:16, 12 (NKJV). But he adds in bitterness of soul, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” Verse 14

Note: The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last the habits of wrongdoing become fixed and sin ceases to appear wrong any longer.

Note: From the beginning of the world, men, instead of remaining under God’s influence, reflecting the moral image of his Creator, placed himself under the control of Satan’s influence, and was made selfish. Thus sin became a universal evil. A birth implies the beginning of a new life. This new life is not a modification of the old, but an entirely new life established on different principles.

Note: The cross is a symbol of death. Death, in the sense that is referred to here, is the death of self; it is the surrendering of the will to Christ. Without this death, there is a weaving of self into all that we do. Service for self takes a variety of forms. The apparent goodness that results may give the appearance of genuine goodness, but it brings no glory to God, for it is in reality the exalting of self in the name of serving God. Though apparently very active in service for the Lord, it is actually seeds of selfishness that are being sown, and in the end it is only corruption that will be reaped.

Note: The yoke and the cross are symbols of the same thing—the giving of the will to God. Just as the cross symbolizes the cutting away of self from the soul—the denial of self—the yoke is a symbol of service and obedience to Christ’s will. We cannot follow Christ without wearing His yoke, without lifting the cross and bearing it after Him. The yoke of service to Christ is indeed light compared to the yoke of sin with its burden of guilt and shame.

17. What is the unanswerable demonstration of love given by God to reconcile a rebel race to Himself?

Note: The cross speaks to the value which God has placed upon men, and of His great love wherewith He has loved us. Christ came to reveal to men to what extent the Son of God could submit to humiliation, self-denial, and suffering, in order to accomplish His divine purpose of working out the salvation of men. The cross of Calvary is an eternal pledge to everyone of us, that God wants us to be happy, not only in the future life, but in this life. But, while it speaks of His great love, it also testifies to the world, to angels, and to men, the immutability of the divine law. The death of God’s only begotten Son upon the cross in the sinners behalf is the unanswerable argument as to the changeless character of the law of Jehovah. Beholding Jesus upon the cross of Calvary arouses the conscience to the heinous character of sin as nothing else can.

Note: Jesus is called “the Lamb of God.” See John 1:29. A foundation is something you must lay before you can start to build. When it speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, it means that before there was a world in place, God had a plan for saving man should he fail to maintain his loyalty to his Creator and sin. Jesus would, in the giving of His life in man’s place, pay the penalty.